Backpacks, vests, or other products having an attached whistle have numerous advantages in a variety of applications. Rather than having to carry a whistle in hand, a user may store the whistle in a pack or on a vest and retrieve it when necessary. For example, while hunting, a user may wish to have easy, speedy access to a hunting whistle to attract game or to scare off other animals. In other situations, a user may wish to have a panic whistle available as quickly as possible in the event of a dangerous situation, such as being approached by an assailant. In these and other circumstances, the users depend on having a whistle easily available in a matter of a seconds. In addition, the whistle must be reliably secured to the product to ensure that the whistle does not detach during frequent (sometimes vigorous) use.
Prior attachment means used buckles or similar fasteners to attach whistles to various products, such as backpacks. This required the user to disengage the fasteners in order to use the whistle, which resulted in significant delay in readying the whistle. Additional prior attachment means used cords alone to attached the whistle. These means are also not ideal, as the whistle dangles freely from the cord, making it potentially difficult to grab the whistle when needed and increasing the chances that the whistle will detach from the product. Still other devices, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,043,802 (incorporated by reference in its entirety), attach the whistle to an awkward or inconvenient location, such as a zipper pull. None of these devices include means to reliably secure the whistle to the product while simultaneously allowing for easy access by the user. Thus, a new means for attaching a whistle to various products is required, in which the whistle is securely attached to the product yet also allows the user to easily retrieve the whistle.